AUTHOR'S NOTE: Here's my second ever Dramione fanfiction! Just like my last one this fic is for my friend Steph who gave me the idea and asked me to write it. I hope you like it Steph!

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter or else I would be a very rich person and would live in Japan by now.

Acacia

Hermione spun around with excitement, being careful not to trip over the cobblestones. She giggled when she saw how her robes fluttered around her almost like wings as she did and she heard both her parents laugh as they watched how happy she was. Neither of them had seen their daughter this happy in a long time, maybe with the exception being when she got her letter to say she had been accepted into Hogwarts.

Another laugh caught Hermione's attention and she turned to grin at Professor Burbage, a teacher from Hogwarts. When she had arrived at the Granger household that morning she had explained that she taught Muggle Studies at Hogwarts and that she was there to take her and her parents to Diagon Alley so Hermione could buy her school supplies. Hermione's mother and father had been slightly confused when Professor Burbage brought them to the back of an old pub in London which they were fairly certain they had never seen before despite knowing the area very well and Mrs Granger had actually screamed a little bit when the bricks on the wall started to move after the Professor tapped them with her wand, but Hermione didn't say a word, merely standing there with her eyes sparkling and the largest grin on her face her parents had ever seen.

As soon as she had been accepted into Hogwarts Hermione had thrown herself into finding out everything she could about magic. Hogwarts had already sent her some books since she'd shown such eagerness but she still needed her wand, cauldron and the rest of her books. Professor Burbage had also explained she would need to change some of her money into galleons. Professor Burbage had told her that non magic people, such as Hermione's parents, were known as Muggles. She had warned her that a few people in the wizarding world weren't kind to people who were Muggle-born but Hermione wasn't worried; people had always thought she was strange and she now knew this was because she was a witch, so she was fairly confident that other people who were magic would understand her and be much nicer to her than the people at her old school had been.

"So, first thing's first," Professor Burbage said with a smile. "Let's get you a wand!"

Charity Burbage could see Hermione was practically fizzing with excitement. She could already tell that the girl was very clever. Throughout the journey to get here she had chatted away to the Hogwarts professor about how she'd already read Hogwarts: A History cover to cover, how she'd already learn the words and wrist movement of some simple spells which she was determined to try out as soon as she got her wand, and she'd asked every possible question under the sun to do with witches, wizards, magic and Hogwarts, some of which Charity herself didn't know the answer to. She hadn't stopped talking until they reached the Leaky Cauldron but Charity didn't mind, enjoying speaking to the young girl and confident that she would do very well at Hogwarts.

"I get my wand at Ollivanders, right?" Hermione asked, pointing to the shop which bore that name on its sign along with the strapline, 'Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C.'.

"That's right," Professor Burbage nodded. "Would your parents like to come in too?"

Hermione looked round at her parents who both glanced at each other. "If you don't mind dear, we would love to come in with you," her mother smiled.

Hermione smiled back at her parents and jumped back to hold both of their hands. "Of course I don't mind you coming in!" she grinned.

Professor Burbage smiled at the Granger family as she held the door to Ollivanders open for them. The first thing Hermione saw was an elderly man with white hair, pale skin and even paler eyes. Something about his eyes made Hermione somehow feel safe with him and slightly afraid of him at the same time. Hermione couldn't even begin to guess how old he was.

"Ah, Miss Granger," the man smiled politely, coming out from behind his desk. "It is a pleasure to meet you." He held out his hand and Hermione shook it. "I am Garrick Ollivander."

"The pleasure is all mine Sir," Hermione smiled, sensing her parents beaming with pride behind her; they had raised her to be very polite, especially to her elders.

"And you must be Mr and Mrs Granger," Ollivander smiled, shaking hands with Hermione's parents. "I imagine you're very proud of your daughter."

"Indeed we are Mr Ollivander," Mr Granger smiled, his wife nodding in agreement.

"Well then Miss Granger, shall we?" Ollivander asked, gesturing back towards his desk.

Hermione nodded and stood in front of the desk while Ollivander went out of sight somewhere to rummage through various boxes. He came back rather quickly and opened a box in front of her. In it was a rather long black wand.

"12 inches, fir wood, Kelpie hair core," Ollivander smiled kindly as he passed the wand to Hermione.

Hermione stood there waiting for something to happen, but when nothing did she decided to try waving it. She did so, aiming it at a pile of papers on the desk. When they all scattered from the desk in a rather violent fashion she immediately put the wand back down on the desk, confident both from Ollivander's reaction and the reaction of the wand itself that this wasn't the wand for her.

Ollivander quickly took the wand back and placed it back in its box before bustling about in the back to look for another one. He was back a few moments later.

"10 inches," he said. "Hawthorn with a unicorn hair core."

When Hermione took hold of this wand she felt something stir inside her. At first she thought maybe it meant this was destined to be her wand but when she waved it, this time at one of the scattered papers on the floor but when the paper scrunched itself into a ball and suddenly caught on fire Hermione once again threw the wand down, Charity quickly using her own wand to extinguish the fire.

"I'm so sorry Sir," Hermione began to apologise but Ollivander held his hand up and just smiled.

"Do not apologise my dear," he said. "It is only natural things like this happen when a wand doesn't choose you."

"Excuse me Mr Ollivander, but what do you mean if a wand doesn't choose her?" Mr Granger asked.

"Put quite simply Mr Granger, the wand chooses the witch or wizard, not the other way around," Ollivander said.

Mr Granger frowned while his wife just shrugged and patted him on the shoulder. "Don't think about it too hard dear. Something tells me we're never going to fully understand magic like our little witch does."

Hermione smiled round at her parents as her mother used the nickname they had ironically been calling her all her life. Every Halloween since she was old enough to go out trick or treating, Hermione had insisted on dressing up as a witch. Sometimes she even wore the outfit during the rest of the year, loving how it made her feel like she could do magic. The nickname of 'little witch' had stuck with her parents and Hermione loved it.

A cough from Ollivander got her attention as he held out yet another wand. This one was a pale brown colour and had looked like it had little wooden veins running down it.

"10¾ inches, made from vine wood with a core of dragon heartstring," Ollivander said with a twinkle in his eye.

Hermione reached out much more cautiously this time but as she did she felt something spark inside of her. It wasn't like the feeling she got when she had been holding the last wand; that had been a kind of warm feeling right in her chest. This was different. It felt like someone had sparked a fire in her stomach. Somehow holding this wand felt right, as if she should have been holding it her whole life. Like she had been missing it her whole life and hadn't realised it until now.

She knew she needed to test it out so she glanced rapidly around the room. Spotting a broken plant pot at the side of the room she stepped towards it, pointing the wand at it.

"Repairo," she said clearly and confidently with a small smile on her face.

She heard her parents and Professor Burbage gasp as the pieces of the broken plant pot magically fixed themselves back together. She turned back around and grinned at them before looking up at Ollivander who looked very impressed.

"I haven't seen a witch so young with skills like yours in a long while," he smiled. "I do believe your wand has chosen you Miss Granger. Be sure to take care of it."

Hermione's smile couldn't get any wider. "I will Sir."

"Well, that will be eight galleons," Ollivander said, looking up at Hermione's parents.

They both looked round at Professor Burbage with worried looks on their faces. Professor Burbage bit her lip in embarrassment.

"Oh dear… I forgot to take you all to Gringotts first," she sighed before stepping up to the desk and bringing a small purse out from her pocket. "I'll pay for it. After we've changed your muggle money into galleons you can pay me back," she smiled.

"Thank you very much Professor," Hermione smiled with relief, her parents reiterating what she'd just said.

Hermione stepped back from the desk and slipped the wand into the pocket of her robes. She once again began to skip around in glee. She had her wand. She really was a witch.

Hermione kicked a stone down the street, being careful not to scuff her shoe. Her parents had gone into the wizard bank with Professor Burbage and left her outside to hold onto the bags. After going to buy her wand Professor Burbage had suggested they just went and bought Hermione's books and cauldron and her parents could just pay her back for it all at once. Her parents had agreed and were now in a bank full of goblins. Hermione could only imagine her parent's reaction when they'd walked in the bank and she was slightly disappointed she hadn't seen it herself.

"Psst."

Hermione blinked in confusion and glanced around. She could have sworn she'd heard something.

"Psst."

No, she was sure she'd heard something. She got up from the bench she was sitting on in front of the bank and looked around. She finally spotted the source of the noise; a boy also wearing Hogwarts robes who was standing at the entrance to a small alleyway a few meters away from her. He had bright blonde hair and piercing grey eyes.

"Are you a first year too?" the boy asked, walking up to her with a smile on his face.

Hermione nodded. "Yeah. I'm just here with my parents to buy my school books and stuff."

"Same here, although I had most of my books already. Still needed to get my wand though," the boy said, sitting down on the bench where Hermione had been sitting. "My name's Draco. What's yours?"

"Hermione," she replied, sitting down next to him.

Draco smiled again and held his hand out to her. "Pleasure to meet you Hermione."

Hermione smiled back and shook his hand. "The pleasure is all mine I'm sure Draco."

Draco glanced down at all the bags next to her. "It looks like you've got most of your things by now."

"Yeah," Hermione nodded. "My parents are just in Gringotts right now getting money sorted. I had to stay out to keep an eye on the bags."

"Well you looked just as bored as I felt when I came round the corner," Draco remarked. "Want to go do something?"

Hermione frowned. "Do something? But I need to stay and watch the bags…"

Draco stood up and held his hand out to Hermione. "Nobody will steal them, this is a nice part of the Alley," he said, his tone soft and tempting. "Come on. I know the Alley pretty well. I could show you some places not many people know about."

Hermione glanced down at the bags but found her eyes automatically locking with Draco's, almost feeling a little bit lost when she looked away from them. Hermione normally never broke the rules but she found herself wanting to do what Draco suggested and sneak away. Ignoring the normally dominant logical side of her brain Hermione stretched her hand out and took hold of Draco's. As soon as she did she felt that same warmth in her chest she had felt when she had taken hold of the second wand in Ollivanders. For some reason she felt herself blush so she forced herself to look away from Draco as he gently pulled her to her feet. He grinned at her reaction, although he couldn't deny he'd felt something stirring in the pit of her stomach when this girl locked eyes with him. However Draco was very good at hiding his feelings so he didn't blush or look away like Hermione had. Instead he careful began to lead Hermione down the street, keeping an eye out to make sure neither of his parents spotted him.

Half an hour later and Draco had decided that Hermione's laugh was the best laugh he'd ever heard. They'd already been to various sweet shops and the joke shop, and now the two of them were sitting in Rosa Lee Teabag, a small teashop-come-café which Draco had been to many times with his mother. It was a nice place which sold butterbeer as well as a wide selection of teas. Draco was stunned to find out Hermione had never tried butterbeer and insisted on buying her first one. He greatly enjoyed the look of delight on her face as she tried it for the first time. He himself ordered a cup of earl grey tea and was sipping it slowly while Hermione tried to force herself not to gulp down her sugary treat.

Hermione set down her glass already half empty and slouched down in her chair with a content sigh. "Now that was delicious."

Draco laughed slightly and set his cup down, leaning forward slightly. "I'm glad you liked it. So, what house are you hoping to get into?"

Hermione sat up properly and shrugged. "I'm not sure. I think I'd be happy in any house to be honest. I may get put into Ravenclaw; I'm pretty smart. What about you?"

"Slytherin," Draco answered immediately. "Nearly my whole family has been in Slytherin."

Draco watched Hermione very careful for her reaction. He knew a lot of people were bias against Slytherins but Hermione showed no signs of this. She actually leaned in closer to him.

"Wow! So it's kind of like a family tradition?" she asked.

Hermione, unlike a lot of people who would in her year at school, didn't think it was fair that Slytherins had such a bad reputation. Having read Hogwarts: A History and many other books on wizarding history she knew why a lot of people automatically disliked all Slytherins but she didn't think that was right. Hermione had a very open mind when it came to things like that.

Draco was pleasantly surprised at this and found it very easy to talk to Hermione. They continued to talk about their future life at Hogwarts as first years until they left the teashop.

"Thank you for the butterbeer," Hermione smiled up at Draco.

Draco swallowed heavily before replying, "You're welcome." He looked down and coughed to try and hide the faint blush he could feel rising up in his cheeks.

Even though Draco had been brought up to hide his emotions from other people somehow he just felt incredibly comfortable around this girl he had only just met less than an hour ago. He didn't mind laughing and smiling around her, two things he was not really allowed to do at home much, and he felt a sense of achievement when he made her laugh.

The two of them began to head back towards Gringotts, Hermione saying she should probably get back before her parents started to worry. As they did they walked past Magical Menagerie, the pet store, and Hermione couldn't stop herself from squealing at a cute little ginger kitten in the window.

"Oh I wish I could get him," she sighed.

"What, you're not bringing an animal with you?" Draco asked. "You know we're allowed an owl, cat or toad right?"

"Yeah I know but my parents wouldn't let me," she explained. "They said if I still wanted one in a few years then they would think about it. But something tells me that little guy will be gone by then."

Draco looked at the cat and decided something then and there. His father knew the owner of Magical Menagerie very well and he owed his father a favour or two. Draco vowed to himself there and then that he would make sure that kitten wouldn't be sold until Hermione was allowed to buy it.

Suddenly Draco spotted a very familiar and very angry face emerging from a store across the street from them. Acting on reflex Draco grabbed Hermione's hand and pulled her after him into a very narrow lane next to Magical Menagerie to hide.

"What's wrong?" Hermione asked.

Draco put a finger to Hermione's lips to shush her. "It's my father," he whispered. "He's looking for me and I'm not sure I want to be found quite yet."

It wasn't until he looked down at her that Draco realised how close he and Hermione now were. This alleyway was so narrow that the two of them were literally pressed right up against each other. Hermione seemed to realise this at the same time as Draco did and her face turned bright red but she couldn't bring herself to look away from him. His grey eyes met with her brown ones and neither seemed to be able to look away from the other. Without realising what he was doing Draco reached up and brushed a strand of hair behind Hermione's ear. Hermione gasped slightly when his cool hand touched her burning red face but she didn't move away or stop him. Somehow his touch just felt right, almost like taking hold of her wand had done earlier.

A loud crash from outside of the alleyway stole their attention away. Draco sighed slightly before peaking his head out. His father had gone, the crash coming from a flower vendor whose cart had fallen over. Hermione peered out next to him and gasped.

"That's my parents over there!" she exclaimed before biting her lip. "They look really worried…"

Draco didn't turn to look at Hermione's parents. Instead he was still looking at the vendor who was still picking up his flowers. He spotted a small bouquet of yellow flowers and picked it up, dropping some coins into a pot on the cart. He turned back to Hermione and offered her the bouquet.

"Here, for you," he smiled gently. "They're acacia flowers."

Hermione smiled shyly – which Draco couldn't help think was kind of beautiful – as she took the flowers from him. "Thank you Draco," she murmured. "They're lovely."

"Go on, you'd better get back to your parents," he said. "I'll see you at school."

Hermione nodded before looking down slightly, as if she was trying to decide if she should do something. She seemed to make up her mind and before Draco could ask what was going on Hermione gave him a very quick but very real kiss on the cheek.

"Thank you for today Draco, I really enjoyed it," she smiled. "I'll see you at school!"

Before Draco could respond Hermione quickly ran towards her parents. Draco slowly raised his hand to his cheek where Hermione had kissed him and he let a smile spread across his face.

As he slipped back into the shadows of the alleyway before anyone else saw him he couldn't help but think that he was really going to enjoy his time at Hogwarts.

AN: I really hope you all enjoyed this! Please review!